


Mirror Magic

by Merlin Missy (mtgat)



Category: Gargoyles (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Magic-Users, POV Child, Threesome - F/M/M, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 02:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5521325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtgat/pseuds/Merlin%20Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexander enjoys his lessons with his Uncle. So do his parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirror Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Settiai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/gifts).



Alexander played with his toys. Around him, the sounds of his home filtered down through the stones of the castle. He heard the noises of the early sunset: cracking stone and the patter of gravel and roars. The nanny, the fourth he could remember and the second this month, had been sent home already. Previous nannies tended to scream when the castle's other residents came downstairs for their evening breakfasts.

The door to his playroom looked out onto the main corridor. Mommy paced back and forth along the carpet, talking on her phone to someone. "You need to get me this part, Bernie. This could be my comeback role."

Daddy's office was further down. The door was closed but Alex focused very hard and he hoped, and even as heavy steps came down the stairs towards the kitchen, Daddy's office door creaked open. Daddy came out where Alex could see, and Uncle followed closely. Alex smiled and made his favorite car roll across the vast space between the nursery chair and the wall.

Mommy hung up. "Ugh, that man."

"Should I be jealous?" Daddy asked, and Alex heard him kiss Mommy's cheek.

"There's a new show opening, but the auditions are invitation only. Bernie's not trying hard enough to get me in."

Daddy sounded sympathetic. "Did he point out the criminal record again?"

"As if that ever stood in the way of anyone else's career."

They chatted and their voices faded. Alexander heard footsteps and Uncle came to the door. "Hello, Alexander."

"I'm hungry."

"I believe Broadway has begun preparations for dinner. Did the nanny give you a snack?"

"Grapes." He frowned. Alex hated grapes. "Can I zap her?"

Uncle stood for a moment in thought. "Perhaps not." He swept up Alex into his good arm. "We cannot zap people because they annoy us. We would never get work done otherwise."

"Okay."

Dinner was a casserole. Broadway liked to stuff everything in the vast refrigerator he could think of into giant dishes and baked them until they were hot and bubbling. Alex snacked on crackers while he waited, and ate a big bowl of chicken and noodles and peas and onions and all good things. After, Uncle announced it was time for lessons.

Alex toddled obediently behind Uncle to the classroom. Mommy called Bernie again as she walked with them. "All I need is five minutes to audition," she said. "I have to go. Make this happen, Bernie."

Alex didn't like the classroom. He'd been practicing his listening powers and knew how much Mommy and Daddy and Uncle had argued and debated about it, and he still couldn't figure out who'd won. The classroom had been built in an interior room of the castle, with a big metal door that locked. As he stepped inside, the metal lining the walls and ceiling made his head itch. Uncle always winced when he came into the room. Mommy didn't seem to mind. She could even rest against one of the walls without minding. Uncle avoided going anywhere near them, and so did Alexander. Although the room was as spacious as could have been created inside the castle walls, he felt like the iron was closing in on him.

As soon as Mommy shut the door behind her, Uncle shivered out of his usual form into the body and face of Alex's teacher. "Ugh, the headache room. We have got to get you north to Xanadu, my boy."

"The faster you get his powers under control, the faster we can make that happen," Mommy said, and sat in her favorite chair.

"Are you paying attention today?" Uncle-teacher asked.

"Yes." Mommy didn't sound like she wanted to be in the classroom, either. 

"Fab. Tonight we are going to practice our transmogrification skills again." Uncle-teacher zipped up into the air. His eyes glowed and his long white hair shimmered. "Repeat after me: Bone and blood and heart and face, these now I choose to replace!"

Alex repeated the syllables slowly. Nothing happened. He looked at Mommy, who hadn't changed either. Uncle-teacher, who now looked like a bear, said patiently, "Try again. Remember, let the magic move you."

Alexander closed his eyes. He touched the place inside him that held the magic. "Bone and blood and heart and face, these now I choose to replace!" Warmth bubbled through his veins. He thought about his favorite cartoon.

When he opened his eyes, he could see that he was taller, and he was a ninja!

"Wonderful!" said Uncle-teacher, clapping. "I like the detail on the pen lines." He looked at Mommy. "You can do this, Fox."

"I don't think I can."

The bear floated next to her, shivering easily back into his fairy form. He lifted her hands, entwining their fingers. "You can. Close your eyes. Look inside yourself. You have a well of power inside. Feel it, just below your sternum."

"I'm no good at this."

"Think of it as another part. You are playing the daughter of the Queen of Avalon, and you have great power."

A change came over Mommy's face. Alex could see her move herself into the role, like she did when she was practicing lines for movies that never came. Mommy could not let herself be Nana's daughter in the real world, but she could pretend into her reality like nobody else.

"Bone and blood and heart and face, these now I choose to replace!"

Mommy turned into a fighting knight, her armor shining and strong, and a sword at her side. Her red hair had been replaced by a long, dark mane, and her skin flashed brown and green scales.

"Very good," said Uncle-teacher. "I should take you two on the road."

"Xanadu is far enough," said Mommy in the warrior's voice.

"I just had a delightful thought," said Uncle-teacher. His eyes flashed again. He didn't need to speak all his spells, and he didn't speak before his form changed again. Now he looked like Mommy, down to the blue tattoo over her eye and the mischievous grin on her face. "Now you try Owen."

"Owen?" Mommy asked, and then something in her borrowed face changed. She laughed. "Bone and blood and heart and face, these now I choose to replace!" This took much less time than her first change. Suddenly Uncle was there, stone arm and all.

"I think you made me a little taller than I really am," said Uncle in Mommy's body. Alex was glad he knew who was who. That could be very confusing. "Lessons over for the night."

Mommy took Uncle's arm, or maybe it was the other way around. "I think they've just started. Come on, Alex. Time for your bath, then bedtime."

"Okay."

Uncle looking like Mommy ran Alex's bath and let him splash in the tub. Mommy looking like Uncle informed the gargoyle clan that the family was retiring for the evening, and don't make too much noise, please.

Daddy came into the bathroom as Alex was in his pajamas getting his hair toweled off. "Time for good night kisses," he said, kissing Alex on the head, and Uncle looking like Mommy on the cheek. He held still a moment. "What's going on?"

"You're good," said Uncle.

Mommy laughed and wrapped Uncle's arms around Daddy. "Can't fool you."

Daddy's breath caught. "More transformation lessons?"

"Mm hm." Mommy turned Daddy's face towards her and kissed him with Uncle's thin, quirky mouth. Uncle ran a quick comb through Alex's unruly red hair, pausing for Daddy to lean over and kiss Uncle wearing Mommy's face.

"You should continue these lessons," Daddy said. "I'm always happy to see my family getting a good education."

"We should plan a trip north," Mommy said. "The four of us can go upstate next weekend. Alex can play outside, and we can play indoors."

"Well, whichever one of you is Owen tonight, you should definitely clear the calendar for us."

"Of course, sir," said Mommy, in Uncle's very serious voice. Daddy's eyes darkened watching her.

"Can I build a snowman?" Alex asked excitedly.

"You may. Bedtime, Alexander," Uncle said. Alex kissed Mommy and Daddy and Uncle on the cheek, and let himself be led to his room.

His night-light glittered over his toys and the walls and the ceiling, and outside, here far above the city lights, he could see a few stars peeping out. From outside in the corridor, he heard the quiet voices of his three parents, stilling into whispered kisses until they finally closed the door to their own room down the hall.


End file.
